Portal:Organized Labour

Introduction

Image created by Walter Crane to celebrate International Workers' Day (May Day, 1 May), 1889. The image depicts workers from the five populated continents (Africa, Asia, Americas, Australia and Europe) in unity underneath an angel representing freedom, fraternity and equality.

The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance of class conflict.

In trade unions, workers campaign for higher wages, better working conditions and fair treatment from their employers, and through the implementation of labour laws, from their governments. They do this through collective bargaining, sectoral bargaining, and when needed, strike action. In some countries, co-determination gives representatives of workers seats on the board of directors of their employers.

Political parties representing the interests of workers campaign for labour rights, social security and the welfare state. They are usually called a labour party (in English-speaking countries), a social democratic party (in Germanic countries), a socialist party (in Romance countries), or sometimes a workers' party.
Though historically less prominent, the cooperative movement campaigns to replace capitalist ownership of the economy with worker cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, and other types of cooperative ownership. This is related to the concept of economic democracy.

The labour movement developed as a response to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at about the same time as socialism. The early goals of the movement were the right to unionise, the right to vote, democracy and the 40-hour week. As these were achieved in many of the advanced economies of western Europe and north America in the early decades of the 20th century, the labour movement expanded to issues of welfare and social insurance, wealth distribution and income distribution, public services like health care and education, social housing and common ownership. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike and industrial action in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act (either by private business or by union workers). When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard and the 1981 Warning Strike led by Lech Wałęsa. These strikes were significant in the long campaign of civil resistance for political change in Poland, and were an important mobilizing effort that contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist party rule in Eastern Europe. Another example are the strikes that followed the Kapp Putsch which were organised by the USPD and the German Communist Party that resulted in the collapse of the Putsch. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

April in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

April 01 - Burston Strike School began in 1914 the U.K.; the 1972 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; the 1980 New York City transit strike began; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Truck Drivers Local 449; the Federation of Unions of South Africa was founded; the Allied Pilots Association was founded; the Loray Mill strike began in the U.S. in 1929; Sol Chick Chaikin died
April 02 - Weldon Mathis was born; Eugene Hanley was born; the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended in 1995
April 03 - Percy Wells died
April 04 - The On-to-Ottawa Trek began in Canada in 1935; William Quesse was born; the 2006 Minor League Baseball umpire strike began in the U.S.
April 06 - Rose Schneiderman was born; the 1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike began as the Teamsters engaged in a sympathy strike; B. T. Ranadive died
April 07 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Lochner v. New York; Basawon Singh (Sinha) died
April 08 - The 1998 Australian waterfront dispute began
April 09 - John H. Dent died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Adkins v. Children's Hospital and Bunting v. Oregon; Chris Watson was born; President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in anticipation of the 1952 steel strike; Natascha Engel was born; Thomas Jackson was born
April 10 - Harold J. Gibbons was born; Dolores Huerta was born; Joseph Diescho was born; George Lippard was born; Edward J. Carlough was born; Lee Batchelor was born; Anna Walentynowicz died
April 11 - The 1980 New York City transit strike ended
April 12 - Tom Addison was born; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.; the Auto-Lite strike began in 1934 in the U.S.; the Union Label Department, AFL–CIO was founded; the Memphis sanitation strike ended; the Queensland Council of Unions was founded; the Sons of Vulcan was founded
April 13 - Henk Sneevliet died; the Laborers' International Union of North America was founded
April 14 - Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca was born; Marvin Miller was born; Ernest Bevin died
April 15 - A. Philip Randolph was born; Pablo Manlapit died; the American Federation of Teachers was founded; "Black Friday" occurred in 1921 in the U.K.; Aleksei Gastev died; the Trade Unions Forum was founded; Margaretta Scott was born
April 16 - Joseph Havelock Wilson died
April 17 - Manwel Dimech died
April 18 - Joseph Labadie was born; R. J. Thomas died
April 20 - Gro Harlem Brundtland was born; The Ludlow Massacre occurred in 1914 in the U.S.; the International Harvester strike of 1979–80 ended
April 21 - The Bituminous coal miners' strike of 1894 began in the U.S.; the First Employment Contract is repealed in France in 2006
April 22 - Frederick Nicholas Zihlman died
April 23 - Russell Crowell was born; the Canadian Labour Congress was formed; Cesar Chavez died; the Hock Lee bus riots occurred in 1955 in Singapore; Edward Lamb was born
April 25 - Arnold Miller was born
April 26 - United Trade Union Centre (Lanin Sarani) was founded
April 28 - Workers' Memorial Day; Roy Lee Williams died; Bob White was born; Greg Combet was born; Jerry Horan died; Joseph Glimco died
April 29 - The Coeur d'Alene miners' dispute of 1899 occurred in the U.S.

Jan•Feb•Mar•Apr•May•Jun•Jul•Aug•Sep•Oct•Nov•Dec

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that following the ban of its labour unions in 1934, the Romanian United Socialist Party would rely on its youth and women's wings for political action?
... that in 1977, Appalachian folk singer Phyllis Boyens performed at a Christmas benefit concert to support Kentucky coal miners who had been on strike for 17 months?
... that during the 1913 El Paso smelters' strike the Industrial Workers of the World and the Western Federation of Miners competed to organize the strikers with their respective labor unions?
... that Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls was one of the leaders in the first successful effort to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in the United States?
... that shortly after a missile strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters, Oleksiy Danilov said that the fleet could be "sliced up like a salami" at a later date?
... that the Women's National Basketball Players Association was the first trade union for professional women athletes?

Related Portals

Selected image

Image 1Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.
Image 2John L. Lewis (right, President of the United Mine Workers, confers with Thomas Kennedy (left), UMW Secretary-Treasurer of the UMW, and a UMW official at the War Labor Board in 1943 about a coal miners' strike.
Image 3An AFL–CIO protest of Rite Aid, with Rev. Mark Reisinger (Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania), Bill George, and Richard Bloomingdale.
Image 4Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
Image 5Joe Hill.
Image 6American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Albert Shanker.
Image 7Rally in Dhaka, organized by Jatiyo Nari Shramik Trade Union Kendra (National Women Workers Trade Union Centre), an organization affiliated with the Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra.
Image 8Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.
Image 9Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.
Image 10Public and Commercial Services Union members on strike in Manchester 2006.
Image 11The Place de la Sorbonne in Paris is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.
Image 12Barges set ablaze by steelworkers during the Homestead strike in 1892.
Image 13Knights of Labor Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly.
Image 14Union members march in Argentina on Human Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..
Image 15Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.
Image 16Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.
Image 17The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.
Image 18Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.
Image 19Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.
Image 20Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.
Image 21Camp put up by striking Pepsi-Cola workers, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2008.
Image 22William Green, president of the AFL–CIO from 1924 to 1952.
Image 23Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.
Image 24Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and his wife, circa 1908.
Image 25J. Warren Madden, the first Chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
Image 26Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.
Image 27Registered nurses on strike in 2006 outside Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Image 28Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
Image 29Richard Trumka.
Image 30Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Image 31United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.
Image 32Wilma B. Liebman, chair, NLRB.
Image 33Members of the United Steelworkers in Ohio phone bank other union members to educate them about critical issues in the 2008 election in the U.S.
Image 34Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.
Image 35Australian industrial relations legislation national day of protest, 2005.
Image 36Samuel Gompers.
Image 37National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.
Image 38The Ludlow massacre monument located in Ludlow, Colorado, United States.
Image 39Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.
Image 40During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California.
Image 41The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".
Image 42Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ådalen shootings.
Image 43Empty Gare du Nord train station during the November 2007 strikes in France.
Image 44Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.
Image 45Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
Image 46A. Philip Randolph.
Image 47Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police on Black Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
Image 48Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Image 49Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.
Image 50Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.
Image 51Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.
Image 52Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.
Image 53AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.
Image 54May Day Rally in Mumbai, India, 2004.
Image 55Lewis Hine's 1920 image "Power house mechanic working on steam pump," which shows a working class young American man with wrench in hand, hunched over, surrounded by the machinery that defines his work.
Image 56George Meany, former leader of the AFL–CIO.
Image 57Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.
Image 58Mounted police chase demonstrators through Vancouver's East End during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier in 1935.

Selected Quote

"The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press. Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike."

— George Seldes

Did you know

...that labor union activist Sam Pollock, who helped lead the Auto-Lite Strike, is the grandfather of noted experimental filmmaker Damon Packard?
... that in 1919, the discharge of the chief of police of Berlin led to a general strike and accompanying fighting known as the Spartacist uprising, in which over 500,000 workers took part?
... that though Theodore W. Kheel negotiated deals to end numerous strikes in New York City, Mayor Ed Koch blamed Kheel for too-generous pay packages that led to the city's fiscal crisis in the 1970s?

Topics

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Organized Labour-related articles, see Organized Labour WikiProject.